By Dave Andrusko
From “Americans’ Abortion Views Steady Amid Gosnell Trial: Few paying attention to trial, but many criticize lack of media coverage,” by Gallup’s Lydia Saad:
“Although the latest Gallup survey was conducted after much of the testimony in this trial [the Kermit Gosnell murder trial] had already been reported in the news, the stability in Americans’ views about the legality of abortion suggests the trial has not swayed public opinion. Part of the reason could be that relatively few Americans are paying attention to the case.”
You can’t make this stuff up. We’ll discuss this more in a moment.
Here are six important takeaways from the results of Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll, released early this morning.
#1. Thanks to Gallup asking more precise follow-up questions, we know that a total of 58% of the American public believes that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances (20%) or legal in only a few circumstances (38%).
The reason Gallup’s numbers are so helpful is that they asked those who initially said abortion should be legal only “under certain circumstances” whether that meant legal in most circumstances or in only a few circumstances. “The responses break nearly 3-1 in favor of the more restrictive policy,” Saad reported.
#2. Then there is the issue of self-identification. We learn that 48% call themselves pro-life and 45% describe themselves as pro-choice. Why is that significant?
Remember the incredibly negative fall-out last year when two pro-life candidates made hugely insensitive comments about rape. As NRLC Executive Director Dr. David N. O’Steen pointed out in a post-election analysis, “[F]rom that point on for the media the abortion issue was ONLY about rape.”
The damage was obvious. A year ago a Gallup poll found that 50% identified themselves as pro-life and only 41% identified themselves as pro-choice. Post-election, The Polling Company post election poll found 51% now identifying as pro-choice and 43% as pro-life. The Resurgent America post election poll found 49% identifying as pro-choice and 43% as pro-life.
But as we’ve pointed out repeatedly, the underlying dynamics had not changed. We see that self-identification on abortion is moving back in a pro-life direction and that nearly 6 in ten Americans disapprove of the reasons almost all abortions are performed.
#3. Returning to the question of when abortion should be legal… the responses from men and women are almost exactly the same. Twenty percent of each sex says abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. Thirty nine percent of men and thirty seven percent of women told Gallup abortion should be legal only “in a few circumstances.”
What’s even more intriguing is the response of those 18-34. Again, almost identical to the sample as a whole except that 3% more (23%) say abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. (34% say legal only “in a few circumstances.”)
One other nugget. A total of 59% of self-identified Independents say abortion should be illegal in all circumstances (22%) or legal only in a few circumstances (37%).
#4. How about the Kermit Gosnell murder case? Fascinating is the word that comes to mind. Only 25% told Gallup they are following the case “very closely” (7%) or “somewhat closely” (18%). Saad ponders the numbers and writes
“It is not clear from the data whether Americans’ relatively low attention to the Gosnell case reflects a lack of interest in it, or a lack of coverage by the mainstream media.”
Saad then writes
“However, nearly half of those following the case, 46%, say the media have not devoted enough coverage to it. That compares with 20% saying the media have devoted too much coverage and 27% saying the right amount.
“The strong tilt toward saying there has not been enough coverage as opposed to too much coverage partly reflects the heavy representation of pro-life respondents among those who were asked the question.”
What does this tell us? “The question” was asked not just of the 25% who said they were following the case “very closely” or “somewhat closely” but the 20% who said they were “not too closely” following the trial.

If pro-lifers are reading about Gosnell (probably because they are coming to sources such as National Right to Life News Today), they would know that the “mainstream media” is half-heartedly, at best, covering the trial. Those who are “not too closely” following the trial would more likely respond that the coverage was “the right amount.” In other words, they don’t know what they don’t know because they weren’t told it by most of the major media.
#5. In an almost throw-away line, Saad mentions at the very end, “One of the clearest messages from Gallup trends is that Americans oppose late-term abortion.” (There is a link back to a January 2013 poll and a reference there to prior polls.)
Yes, they do, and that includes after the first trimester. Almost two-thirds (64%) opposed abortions in the second three months of pregnancy and a whopping 80% oppose abortion in the last three months.
#6. Saad’s final paragraph includes this:
“As a result [of this opposition to late-term abortion], the publicity surrounding Congress’ attempt in 1997 to ban a particular late-term abortion procedure known as partial-birth abortion likely caused more Americans to identify as pro-life. However, despite the news that Gosnell may have murdered newborns in the course of performing late-term abortions, public attitudes on abortion are essentially unchanged. Whether views would shift if more Americans become familiar with the case isn’t clear, but will be evident if the eventual verdict sparks a major expansion of news coverage.”
It is simply not debatable that the fight to ban partial-birth abortion caused more Americans not only to identify as pro-life, but also reoriented the abortion discussion. Nor is it likely debatable that attitudes would become even more pro-life if the public was told about what happened at Gosnell’s “House of Horrors.”
A decision—one way or the other or the other—will be coming down soon in the Gosnell murder trial. Will the major media talk about it for a day or two and pretend what happened at the Women’s Medical Society tells us nothing about where abortion on demand has taken us? Or, just this once, will a story of abortion’s unimaginable brutality completely break through the media’s customary blackout?
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